CH 1

I was reincarnated in a horror novel (1)

“Sa-save me! What the hell is wrong with you? Huh? P-Please.”

【Finiseo】

As his voice echoed like a wave, black fog began to attack the students. It was a dark and mesmerising colour. The spreading smoke soon claimed the students’ lives. A faint scream was swallowed by the still wind. In the midst of the cold bodies, only Leto Arsene was left staring at the floor with empty eyes.

＊  ＊  ＊

It was the moment I first saw Leto after entering the academy that I realised I was reincarnated in a novel. As soon as I saw his red hair, I knew that he was the male lead in the R19 Horror-Mystery novel “How to Recognise the Murderer”.

‘Oh, I’m screwed.’

He was the second son born from a Duke and his lover. However, he was abused for being the son of a mistress so he had no choice but to dress up as a woman under his upright and conservative family. Having suffered from lack of affection due to being abused and neglected by his parents, he decided to commit murder for the first time at the age of 19.

do not repost our translations. read only at droppedinks.wordpress.com

And now, he is 18 years old. It was Winter. His first murder was just over a year away. Likewise, my life was also in a year. According to the novel, Leto would kill all of his classmates.

That’s right. I, Brisse Pierre, was Leto’s roommate and a girl in his class.

‘I can’t ruin my life like this!’

I’ve lived a pretty good life before I found out I was reincarnated. Though I wasn’t rich, I was born as a daughter of a Baron and was loved by my parents. To repay the love of such parents, I studied hard and entered Lexley Academy, where I would naturally earn honor and wealth once I graduate.

I thought my life was just starting to bloom…….

“Move.”

Leto said, sharply. The two of us, who had just enrolled into Lexley Academy, were carrying our luggages. I stood awkwardly and stared at Leto. He seemed to be quite upset and did not appear pleased to be my roommate. 

When I first read the book, I honestly felt sorry for Leto. It was due to his unfortunate history with his family. How many tears were shed during his childhood as he was struggling to live and trying to be loved.

“What are you looking at?”

Feeling my gaze, Leto looked at me with a frown. Alright, Leto. Since it has come to this, I have to try to stop the killings as well. As I was thinking so, I put my luggage down on the bed, smiled and reached out to Leto.

“Hello, my name is Brisse Pierre. Feel free to call me Bree.”

Leto swerved his head at my lively greeting.

…Can I do this well?

＊  ＊  ＊

And it failed, miserably. For several days, I followed Leto around and tried to get close to him. Whenever that happened, Leto would look at me as if he was in a bad mood, and blatantly rejected me. 

“What the hell is wrong with her? She has a pretty face, but her personality is weird.”

“Bree, don’t play with her. Just play with us, okay?”

My classmates didn’t want me to play with Leto, but I couldn’t help it.

“No, Leah is actually a kind-hearted girl.”

The children looked at me with a look of disbelief and shook their heads.

“Sure, Bree. You’re just too nice.”

“Don’t try so hard. You should just give up quickly if you get tired.”

The children cheered and headed to another professor’s classroom to learn the ‘poison trick’. In our magic major, many children learned how to make poison, raise dragons and learn healing magic, but Leto and I were different.

do not repost our translations. read only at droppedinks.wordpress.com

We learned dark magic from Professor Hartz, a fierce and feisty professor. It was a subject that all the students avoided. I tried to avoid it as well, but in order to become close with Leto, I had no choice but to choose the same subject.

“Leah, let’s go together!”

Leto ignored me as I chased after him. That didn’t mean I was going to give up. I sat next to him and waited for the professor to arrive. At the same time, I asked Leto several questions, to which he ignored and refused to answer. 

‘No, let’s cheer up!’

It’s a little hard, but let’s do our best to live!

Then, a rather tired Professor Hartz, entered with a yawn. He quickly skimmed over the attendance book and glanced at the five children in the classroom. Professor Hartz, who closed the attendance book without even calling for attendance, started the class straight away.

‘Wow, that’s so boring!’

In a class that wasn’t very nourishing, I too, almost yawned. 

Oh, I shouldn’t fall asleep….I glanced at Leto and saw him diligently jotting something down. Inspired by Leto’s enthusiasm to learn, I tried to grab my pen again, but then, Professor Hartz looked at Leto.

“You, get out.”

All of a sudden, he dismissed Leto.

“I don’t understand.”

When Leto asked, Professor Hartz looked displeased and frowned. 

“You are not suitable for black magic.”

“…..!”

I was puzzled at first, but it then dawned on me. Leto was going to kill all our classmates using black magic a year from now. Oh my god, why did I only think of this now! Professor Hartz urged him to leave, probably because of the unusual feeling Leto gave off.

“Go on, leave.”

Leto eventually sprang up from his seat with a face stiff from anger. I held my breath as he slammed the door shut and left.

‘This is a huge problem.’

Professor Hartz started the class again as if nothing had happened, but no words would enter my ears. I was only worried about Leto. When the class was finally over, I hurried up from my seat but Professor Hartz stopped me.

“You’re friends with that kid, aren’t you?”

“……I am.”

“That kid. She’s dangerous. Don’t get too close with her.”

“Thank you for the advice!”

I don’t care!

I quickly left the classroom to search for a place Leto would possibly go to. I tried searching the bathroom, but he wasn’t there. I then thought he could be in the classroom, but he wasn’t there either. Trying to find Leto in the large Lexley Academy was similar to looking for James West in Seoul. [1]

“Where the hell are you?”

After circling around the academy, I became exhausted and returned to the dormitory. Suddenly, a familiar back appeared in front of me. Leto was at the rabbit farm in front of the dormitory. I unknowingly froze at the sight of him touching the rabbit. 

Is he trying to kill it? I hurried after him, but soon found Leto smiling, stroking the rabbit’s head.  

‘Ah…’

No.

Staring at Leto’s figure, I slowly approached him. Leto, who was petting the rabbit with a gentle expression, got up in a hurry. He glared at me, unlike how he stared at the rabbit. 

“There you are, I was looking for you.”

“What?”

“…I think Professor Hartz’s words were too harsh. So, don’t worry too much.”

I approached Leto, slowly. 

“Stay away.”

“Leah.”

“Because you’re annoying.”

“…..Huh?”

“It’s very disillusioning for you to pretend to be close with me. It’s annoying. Do you know how much I want to push you away? If you come any closer, I’ll really push you back.”

Oh. So scary.

“Leah, I truly want to be close to you.”

“It’s disgusting. Really.”

Leto looked at me with a frown.

“I can’t promise what I’ll do to you if you get any closer.”

I flinched at his dreadful remark. No way, don’t tell me you’re going to kill me?

“It won’t be a big deal for my family to ruin a family like yours.”

“What?”

“So don’t get close. Got it?”

I never thought he’d involve my family or parents. It seems that my trying to get close to him has failed. 

….Then what should I do now?

Am I going to die like this?

I can’t do that! I need to find a solution. A solution!

＊  ＊  ＊

It was midnight. I quietly looked at Leto who had his back turned and noticed that he wasn’t sleeping. I carefully rose up when I saw his shoulders tremble as if he had a nightmare. I could see Leto’s red hair under the moonlight. A girl with long, red hair hanging down her shoulders, white skin, and a pretty dress. 

Leto Arsene.

….you’re pretty even though I know you’re a man. I gulped. Alright, this was the perfect timing.

“H-hey, Leah.”

When I called Leto by his fake name ‘Leah’, he turned his head. Leah’s face, which was staring at me curtly as if asking why he was called, came into my sight. His red hair and black eyes. A three-dimensional face, sculpted eyes, and a cute nose tip. His red lips were alluring. 

“What?”

He asked sharply, I took a deep breath and said,

“I-I like you.”

I confessed. My heart throbbed as I pretended to be shy and spoke with my face slightly lowered. Leto was embarrassed by my abrupt confession and said nothing. It was dark in the room due to the dark clouds overshadowing the moonlight. Then, he finally opened his mouth. 

“I’m…a girl though?”

Huh?

“And you’re a girl, too.”

Oh, god.

We’re the same gender right now.

Yup. I was screwed from the start.

[1] A saying for very hard to find; finding a needle in a haystack.